Sunny and not-so-sunny tales

MUMBAI: Sunil Gavaskar's parentsManohar and Meenal refuse to take much credit for the greatness of their son whocelebrates his Diamond Jubilee birthday on Friday.Paens have beenwritten about Gavaskar's greatness on and off the field, the many hats he hasworn. All that Papa Gavaskar says is, "It's just the divine gift he has ofsifting the weed from the chaff. Looking at the kind of stuff he has beenexposed to, the varied people he has met, Sunil had every chance of beinginfluenced in some way or another. The great thing is that he has taken theright path and this would not happened without the divine help," said thefather.Asked whose qualities the son imbibed most, papa said in allmodesty, "What qualities do I have, it's mostly from the mother."MomMeenal said, "He is very 'guni' (talented). He has taken my face features. Oneof Sunil's closest friends, Hemant Waingankar, says,' put a tikli on Sunil'sforehead and he will look like me."She added, "Isn't it as thesaying goes, 'Matrumukhi sada sukhi' (If you have a face like your mother's youwill be forever happy)." That is the genesis of the legend's sunny dispositionwhich got him the title of 'Sunny' from skipper Vasu Paranjpe. The mother added,"As a mom I did what every mother does bring him up with the right 'sanskars'(values). But the credit goes to him alone."The dad said the genesisof Sunil's cricketing prowess lay in the family which was full of cricketers."His grandparents from mother's and father's side were school chums and playedtogether in the early part of the last century in Shirode near Goa. My elderbrother Baban was a left-arm spinner in the class of Bapu Nadkarni and I playedclub cricket. Sunil's uncle Madhav Mantri played for India. What more do youneed."The dad said Sunil never made any demands on them because ofhis powers of observation. "He saw what austere life we had to live once ourbread earner, my uncle passed away prematurely. That meant me surrendering Rs 95of the Rs 100 salary to my aunt, the balance Rs 5 to my wife for her personalexpenses."The only tough demand Sunil made from dad was when as a16-year-old wanting to watch the opening day of a Mumbai Test match right fromthe outset, how the teams trained, how they came to the field and how themorning transpired. Recalls the dad, "I colluded with him, gave him a leave notesaying he had a headache. The next day the principal asked him, "How was thematch?'. I was summoned by the principal who said, 'Today you have encouraged alie, tomorrow he may lie to you.'. Shame-faced I told Principal Kamath Nunes Iwas wrong and the mistake would never be repeated. That was a lesson in honestythat Sunil learnt for life," added the dad. "The schoolteachers at St Xavier'sHigh School were of a kind and they shaped Sunil's character in a major way," hesaid.The genesis of Gavaskar's decisive self is mirrored in anotheranecdote. This writer and he both applied for MBA at Bajaj Institute ofManagement. Gavaskar got a call. The father takes up the story, "I used someinfluence of some agents of the Bajaj Group to push Sunil's claims. At the vivavoce one Col Bose told him that with the amount of cricket he played would meanhis missing the lectures and projects which are never repeated. So he asked himwhether he was more keen on MBA or cricket. Sunil promptly said,' cricket' andthat was that. I admired him for that because I know the case of the son of anIAS officer who when asked about a choice told the interviewer he would ask hisfather and revert. The lad was turned away instantly because of hisindecisiveness."Gavaskar's lesson in democracy was honed by thenightly family meetings. Says the dad, "The children would open up before us andwe would guide them. Once Sunil asked me which subject to pick, French orSanskrit. I told him I had little time to teach Sanksrit which I knew. Mother,who had time, could cope with French and French it was for Sunil and he took thedecision."Likewise the dad says Sunil accepted his advice not totake up a job and continue playing collegiate and University cricket."University cricket was played countrywide and was competitive and got goodpress coverage. Office cricket was restricted to Mumbai. Sunil agreed, made tonsof runs for Bombay University. Luckily the Vizzy trophy, a zonal tournament alsowas created just then and the cream of the varsity talent was on view. Sunilscored heavily in the first edition, went to Sri Lanka, scored there as well andnever looked back. I remember chairman of the selection committee, VijayMerchant, saying in one of his radio shows that after skipper Ajit Wadekar,Sunil's was the second certainty for selection."Papa Gavaskarrelated a childhood tale which indicated Sunil's feelings. "The singing beggarwould come to our colony. Lest his singing be interrupted by having to collectthe coins thrown down at him, Sunil would go down collect the coins on hisbehalf and hand them over to the beggar. Who would have thought in theseterms?"There's another tale about his 'Matrubhakti' (devotion tomother). "His mother was in a VIP enclosure at Bangalore and Sunil came all theway from the commentary box to touch her feet. An Englishman was amazed to see alegend do this in full public view and asked the significance of it. He was toldit was how Indians respected their elders."The bottom-line forSunil, says the dad, is that he has met so many people, has had invitation fromthe power brokers in politics but has steered clear of power blocks. "He hasseen legends turn up in Parliament just to raise a finger in support of theirparty, which is just demeaning."Sunil Gavaskar doesn't have anydreams unfulfilled but the father hopes that the academy for which thegovernment gave him a plot comes up. "They have laid down too many conditions.We continue to pay property tax all the while. I hope something is done aboutit. Also that a Gavaskar stadium in his home district of Vengurla also getscompleted. It was begun over a decade ago."